FCC reviews disaster reporting rules to ease burdens on telecom providers
The Federal Communications Commission has opened a review of its Disaster Information Reporting System in a move to reduce reporting requirements for providers during disasters and improve the system’s efficiency.
Created in 2007, the system collects data on network outages and restoration to help emergency management officials prioritize recovery. Puerto Rico is amid what forecasters expect to be an active hurricane season.
While the FCC says the system has been valuable, it noted that preparing reports can divert resources from immediate response.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking calls for simplifying requirements, limiting obligations to facilities-based providers, and granting federal and state agencies direct access to outage data by removing some access restrictions.
The agency also adopted an order clarifying when network outage reporting requirements are suspended during activations of the system. Providers will still be required to send outage notifications to 911 and 988 officials during activations to ensure the public can reach emergency services.
“At Claro Puerto Rico, our legal and operations teams are currently evaluating this new proposal to modernize the Disaster Information Reporting System put forward by the FCC,” said Héctor J. Álvarez-Colón, communications manager. “We value this mechanism as an essential tool for coordination in emergency situations, and we are committed to the continuous improvement of these processes.”
Wanda Pérez, senior government affairs manager at Liberty Communications, said current reports require “at least 10 work screens with multiple required information fields” and must be updated daily by municipality during an emergency.
She supported the FCC’s aim to “eliminate duplicate information in reports and reduce information to that which is truly valuable to respond to an emergency,” saying it would help providers deploy resources as needed during crises.
